The Kyuubi & The Strawberry
by extremexunyi
Summary: Need I say more? A crossover of Bleach and Naruto. Following the anime. RE-UPLOADED Chapter 1 2. Stories begin from Hueco Mundo Entry Arc and the Fire Temple Arc. Will not include fillers.
1. The Kyuubi & The Strawberry

**A/N :** This is a REMAKE of the original. For those who has read the original please tell me if this is better or not. Because I still have the old file on my computer, I can easily re-upload the 'better' one. Of course what I'm trying to do now is to remake it so that it is closer to the anime, instead of total fiction of course.

* * *

Somehow, 2 worlds began to collide and join. And whilst their battles are being fought, a new war has started. A war that would involve both parties to help as their enemies become stronger and stronger...

The blonde stared at the passing clouds, perhaps he could understand Shikamaru's fondness of clouds. But patience was never a virtue in his book, he sat up irritably and paused at the Konoha gate, as if expecting Sakura or Sai or even Kakashi to appear to call him on his next mission. Ever since he had reunited with Sasuke, even if it was for a moment, his desire to convince him to come back to Konoha burned harder.

The earth trembled.

His eyes widened and his head spun round automatically. Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly, and blinked as a cloud of dust blew past him. Curious, he got up, ignoring the presentation of his clothing, moving further and further away from Konoha. As he noticed the intensity of dust and sand in the air, he moved quicker and quicker, fingers already grasping a kunai.

A distortion.

Naruto flew back a few metres, avoiding a blow that came from the midst. Naruto narrowed his eyes further and managed to notice the distortion in the dust and air. His eyes darted to the ground, where it trembled slightly as he could make out something invisible was moving closer. He froze for a moment; around him trees began to break like branches, and deep cries of rage and hatred were emitted from random spots in the forest.

"What the..?"

Lightning reflexes and acute sense pulled his arms up as a shield as a strong driving force targeted his head. He tried his hardest to visualize, and even attempted to use chakra control, but could see nothing but a distorted figure of beasts twice his size and could even faintly see one as gigantic as a skyscraper. Concentrating, he dodged another punch directed to him; Naruto was out of options.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

'If they're hiding then lets see what they do when I attack them all at once!' About 50 copies of the orange shirted blonde appeared out of nowhere. Each one mirrored the same determination that was reflected on the original, and with only a pause to grin, the mass of shadow clones charged forward towards the multiple distortions and began to use a variety of attacks, from the standard kicks and punches, to the swift chakra embedded shurikens to standard Rasengans.

-

"There!"

A thin brown haired man appeared out of a black hole. As the black gate seemed to shrink behind him, a wild expression appeared as he stared below him. His hair was messed up, having his left side of his hair to be neatly tucked in a white skeletal-like mask and his right side spiking up. He was neatly dressed with the standard white robes and had a rather thin overall body; his left arm being slightly bigger due to the skeletal-like armor around it.

His grin stretched as he moved speedily towards the estimated 30 remaining blondes, halting the Menos Grandes in the process. His left arm, uninhibited by the skeletal armor that covered it, rested on the hilt of his blade as he moved towards the clones.

Naruto stopped as he noticed another explosion of dust. He watched in horror as one by ones his clones were punched by a fast moving force and ultimately disappeared. But he wasn't a coward. Years of training and the magnitude of his skill had made sure of that. Gripping his kunai harder than ever, he slowly embraced and directed the wind with his chakra. His eyes widened for a moment as a flash of distortion and white robes was processed but proceeded to block the attack with both hands.

Recoil pushed him back relatively far as he regained his position. Naruto expressed annoyance against his invisible enemy, and although he was well aware of the possible other destructive forces, he could feel that this specific invisible enemy was riling up the others.

Because of Naruto's disadvantage, he tamed his annoyance, having no target he could not initiate the attack, something which had almost become habitual for him in any battle. He could only rely on his reflexes and keen senses for this battle. With the slight movement of dust being kicked off, Naruto could tell his opponent was in motion. Jumping slightly to one side he directed a random punch towards his invisible enemy.

Unfortunately, luck did not choose him this time as he missed and took a full hit into his stomach.

Naruto flew back but stood up once more, he was getting angry.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

4 more of Naruto appeared as the five proceeded to tackle him. But all of them stopped when they felt the wind blow against them. Spinning around, one of the Naruto clones was sliced in half and disappeared, giving away a dangerous fact. Apparently the enemy was using a blade. 'Even with invisibility advantage he still uses a blade? As if that's going to help!', Naruto thought to himself.

The remaining 4 charged and although the enemy made quick work out of the first 2, the third one muddled through a few attacks before getting cut on the left shoulder. As the last one disappeared, Naruto once again refined his kunai with his wind chakra and blocked as many strikes he could. After being slashed up twice on both arms, Naruto jumped back in defense.

He gritted his teeth in frustration, he felt his breathing become ragged and rather violent, as he wiped off the blood on his shoulders he could see the white rope, the thin blade, and even some of the man's facial features. With only the picture of his half skeletal helmet, Naruto convinced himself not to use the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

For a moment his ears caught a sentence. But he ignored the fact as the 4 more shadow clones that appeared like magic in the smoke charged forwards. The more he blinked the more he thought he could see the enemy's white robes, but he was still unsure. The shadow clones were getting used to the sound of a blade suddenly slicing them but they were still inferior to the almost overwhelming opponent.

Making them disappear in clouds of smoke, the enemy sped through and aimed the blade directly for Naruto's heart. Perhaps luck had not abandoned Naruto totally as he saw the blade. This time the blade was not flickering as he saw the wild hair in the wind, the skull helmet on his head, the katana and the long white robes. With his sudden stroke of good luck he skillfully slid his finger out of the kunai hole and allowed the katana to pierce the hole. Of course, neither broke and as the man disappeared with a blink of an eye, Naruto was convinced he had him, and that was all he needed.

Multiple arms and legs emerged from the hardy soil and grabbed on to the invisible enemy. The one who was in front of the enemy held the kunai in place and locked the katana as more and more shadow clones seemed to materialize and jump on the enemy to bind him to place. A grunt could be heard but was soon muted by the swirling sounds of a Rasengan.

"Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake THIS! RASENGAN!"

The real Naruto jumped and from the brilliant sky struck down on the invisible enemy. Although doubt filled his heart initially, he smiled victoriously when he felt contact and saw nothing in front of his Rasengan. He could hear his cries and would constantly see the skull and white robes, blinding him each time he blinked.

But when the Rasengan diminished and probably grinded the enemy's body, Naruto circled round to see a towering black beast with a white mask coming straight down at him. His eyes widened as he blocked with his arms but felt no impact.

He relaxed his arms and saw the bright orange haired person standing in front of him. His mouth agape when his eyes fell onto the gigantic blade, somewhat as long as Zabuza's and Kisame's. He ignored everything else, even though the boy's contrasting hair colour stood out the most. He moved forward slightly in an attempt to get some attention but was shocked when the boy turned around.

Both of them jumped back and with another blink of an eye, Naruto could see Konoha but nothing else. He scratched his head and expressed his own confusion to the incident. .

"Is anyone there?"

Ichigo turned towards the demanding blonde. He stared inquisitively as the boy repeated his question. Ichigo was the first to move as he closed the gap between him and the boy whose height only reached Ichigo's eyes.

Naruto fell back on the ground and looked up at the Shinigami.

"W-What the hell? Wh-Who are you?"

"Huh? You can see me?"

"Of course I can see you! I'm not blind!"

Naruto cocked his head to one side to see if there was anyone else other than him. Almost instantly however, the tall boy with the over sized sword darted his eyes to the same direction and in one swift motion, swung his blade 360 degrees so that it slashed the towering black beast. Naruto felt his jaw drop before he watched as the man jumped to incredible heights and began clearing the field of towering beasts. Once he was done however, Naruto picked himself up.

"Who are you and where did you come from!?"

"I'm a Shinigami."

Naruto's brain began to ache.

"Shinigami..?"

"It means Death God. My job is to kill Hollows. Hollows are the monsters you've seen just now. But usually normal people can't see us, let alone defeat a full fledged arrancar."

"Arran...car?"

"That was the man in white that you killed."

Naruto turned his head round just to see the last bit of his body disintegrate. He felt even more confused as more questions arose in his head. He turned back to the new discovery just to see him walk away calmly.

"Wait!"

Ichigo turned round in an irate manner but entertained him anyway. Naruto began asking question after question which seemed to annoy Ichigo; but Naruto did not take the hint. It began to dawn to Ichigo however, that this was precisely normal. Ichigo began to see images of the first time he met Rukia, he was bewildered as well and the only reason why he was not as chatty as the idiot in front of him was because Rukia had used Bakudo on him. Ichigo probably would have too if he actually knew how to use it.

Ichigo let out an obvious sigh before proceeding to explain to Naruto about the hidden world. After all, if he could see Ichigo meant he had a huge volume of spiritual energy. After about 4 hours of explanation, Naruto finally understood Shinigamis, Arrancar, Hollows and Soul Society. He even knew about Aizen whom Ichigo tried as hard as he could to make him sound as minor as possible.

"Well its useless for me to bring you back to the village then right?"

"Yeah. Perhaps we might meet again."

"I'm Naruto by the way, Uzumaki Naruto. BELIEVE IT!"

"Heh I'm Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ichigo smiled before he jumped to the sky.

"Naruto huh..? Reminds me of....me..."

* * *

**A/N :** How did you liked the rewritten version? If you guys couldn't see the minor difference, I wiped out Rukia from this chapter.


	2. Bonds

**A/N :** Second chapter remake! Don't worry it still has Hitsugaya for those Hitsugaya fans

* * *

Without further collisions between the Shinigami World and the Ninja World (I refrained from using 'Real world' to avoid confusion), time continued almost normally. Almost coincidentally however, the dark shadows of the two supposedly separate worlds began to merge; the birth of an evil plan was underway.

"Yosh! I did it!"

A hundred -or perhaps thousand- voices followed after, reciting the exact same cheer after the waterfull had successfully been 'cut' into half. In that same instant, almost all of the clones disappeared, leaving Naruto to wearily faint from the increased faituge. Thankfully, Kakashi saw this coming and grabbed him just in time; Yamato simply gives a sigh of relief after another day of controlling his chakra came to an end.

---

"Welcome...I thought you would come, Kurosaki-kun."

"Why?"

"You'd probably guess that I'm the only one who would know how to get into Hueco Mundo."

There was a pause.

"You were right."

The man in clogs led Ichigo inside his shop. The atmosphere was heavy as the two began to talk about the recent incident of Orihime gone missing. Ichigo was suspicious at first, but calmed down as Urahara assured him that he would not mind helping Ichigo – even if it meant rebelling against Soul Society. In the midst of it all however, a familiar voice resounded.

"That's a real awful expression you've got there, Kurosaki."

Ichigo turned away from Urahara that paced in front of him and followed the source of the voice. Donning a pure white clothing with aquamarine lines, the bespectacled Quincy prodigy sat on top of a flat rock. A smile formed on the Quincy as he proceeded to jump down from the rock, Ichigo questioned his purpose.

Instead of Ishida however, another familiar voice replied.

"Chad?"

Ichigo turned away from them and glanced at Urahara. After understanding that Urahara had already expected and noticed their presence, he thought hard for a moment before thanking their efforts.

"But I can't let you guys come, not with your power-"

It was thankful that the blond had already gained acute senses to block against the sudden strike from Chad. Instinctively, Ichigo felt his feet press onto the ground, and he felt his entire body brace. He looked into Chad's visible eye and noticed for the first time that it was full of determination that carried the message 'we're coming no matter what'.

"Do you still believe we lack power?"

It was only then did Ichigo noticed the ground around his footing had eroded from the impact that Chad and Ichigo's blade made.

"Alright, so are we all ready?" Urahara joyfully announced to the 3 friends.

After pulling back his attack, Chad and Ichigo came to a silent consensus that they would all be going – together.

"It seems that we are."

Urahara repeated in a softer voice before shooting them a glance. There was a strange glint in his eye; a glint that only a master who had just been beaten by his apprentice would have, it was a glint of content, satisfaction, and even happiness perhaps. There was a moment of silence when all the 4 exchanged looks.

"Now, let's go."

---

The oblivious blond ate barbarically at Ichiraku's, after all it was a treat from none other than Kakashi-sensei.

"Are you done?"

"I've only gone through 7 bowls, just one more Kakashi-sensei!"

"Sure."

Naruto ate his fill before turning to Kakashi, or turning to where Kakashi was.

"Ka-Kakashi..?"

"Naruto, if you don't pay up you know what will happen..."

Naruto let out a weak laugh before giving them his entire wallet. He left with a frown before Kakashi appeared in front of him. Just before Naruto could ever begin to rant about how Kakashi had tricked him, Kakashi led him to the training grounds, the same grounds that Naruto had cut the waterfall at. Looking around, Naruto inquired where was Yamato, after all, he knew Yamato had to keep his chakra levels in check.

"He will not be needed for this training."

"W-Why? Is it something secret? Wha-"

Kakashi didn't reply but simply placed his arms out : palm facing the sky, fingers slightly curled in as if holding a ball; his free hand grasped his wrist tightly and began to channel chakra in his hands. Naruto watched in awe.

"R-Rasengan???"

Before any further questions could be asked, Yamato made his presence clear. Suddenly the Rasengan diminished in Kakashi's hand as the two Jounins whispered to each other, distinctly annoying Naruto. Naruto watched in dismay as his 2 senseis simply went off with just an apology and a good bye. Sighing, he was about to look for something more interesting to do when a wispy volume of dust hit him head on.

"What the..?"

A strong force hit the ground, forcing Naruto to grit his teeth as he could feel himself sliding off the ground ever so slightly. Had it not been for his chakra control, the area of where he could have been might have been stained with red. Relaxing his arms, he slowly allowed them to drop to his sides, where he watched in amazement of the battle going on in front of him.

"Heh, this is all you got Shinigami? Geez you're not even a threat haha! Why did we even need to eliminate you!"

"You..!"

Flying and slicing through the air like a bullet, the small sized, turquoise eyed boy charged forward, just to be taunted at as he missed again. Glancing over his shoulder, he cursed silently as he affixed his eyes on the target once more.

"If you are a Captain of Soul Society, and you can't even beat an arrancar like me, you expected to even fight off our Espada in Hueco Mundo?! HAH!"

The white haired Captain raised his ears to what he had just said, the arrancar was referring to Ichigo; Hitsugaya wondered if Ichigo was really bent on going into Hueco Mundo.

"Don't daze off now..."

In the midst of his thinking, the arrancar, number 56, Martini Franz, swooped down, releasing his ultimate form at once. Hitsugaya watched as he drew his sword and a blinding flash ensued. Appearing behind him, Martini sent a drive kick aimed at Hitsugaya's head.

"Bankai."

As calm and collected as Hitsugaya was, he watched as the arrancar's kick only managed to connect with one of his heavenly frost wings. An audible grunt was emitted as Martini barely managed to avoid Hitsugaya's counter attack.

"Tch."

There was a considerable change in Martini's appearance ever since he released his sword; his arms and legs were layered with bones, so much so it looked like his arms and legs could act as whips. His body was covered with a triangle shaped plate, protruding slightly at the sides; his face was only half covered by a seemingly streamlined head gear that held his hair back, the other half of his face revealed his menacing grin. His finger tips and feet were joined to a pointed tip, making him look like a rather comical star.

Hitsugaya glanced one more time over his shoulder, he noticed the 10th flower petal disintegrating and cursed inwardly. Martini saw his eyes looked away and charged forth, placing both of his arms straight towards the small prodigy. Toshiro had already felt him coming and raised his blade in defence, as he tried to stabilize himself. Martini sent a swooping kick, but just made the 10th Division Captain take to the skies. Before Hitsugaya could turn on the offensive, Martini darted through the air and forcibly tried to pierce Hitsugaya, although he failed on every shot as the Captain irritably blocked every shot with his sword.

All of a sudden, Martini cried out a foreign language, and water blasted Hitsugaya through the skies. Almost instantly, Martini flew past the hydro cannon and right behind the pushed back Hitsugaya. Grinning, he sounded his command once more, allowing water jets to form at the tips of his feet, bursting towards Hitsugaya with his pointed fingers.

"Can't take it can you Captain!"

The 10th captain was full of annoyance as he rapidly flew upwards to dodge his attack.

"That's not going to work!"

Spinning a full 180 degrees in less than a second, Martini blasted 2 gigantic streams of water towards Hitsugaya with a maniacal laugh.

"Hyourinmaru!"

Striking right in between the water, Martini watched in shock and horror as his water froze instantly from the touch of Hitsugaya's sword. Before Martini could ever call off his bullets of water, Hitsugaya's zanpakuto ability had already froze the entire jet of water as well as his legs.

"When in the real world, all Shinigami's have a limiter placed on them. It reduces our power by a factor of 5 no matter what state we're in until Soul Society decides to lift the limiter."

"W-What?!"

"You are currently only fighting 20% of my true power, arrogant arrancar."

"Why you little kid-"

Keyword : kid.

"Go! Daiguren Hyourinmaru!"

Stabbing him cleanly, Hitsugaya watched as the arrancar before him froze in horror. In the next second, the ice shattered, shattering the body that was encased inside the icy prison. Catching his breath as he descended to the ground, the captain of the 10th squad in Soul Society sheathed his sword – his icy wings, icy tail and icy arms disappearing as well.

"Woah! That was WAY TOO COOL!"

Hitsugaya turned towards the blond that had watched the whole thing. At first, he remained silent, expecting to see if Naruto was able to see him or not.

"You're one of Ichigo's friend right?"

Upon hearing their names, Hitsugaya's eyes lit up with curiosity and stepped forward, asking a few questions of his own.

"You saw him?"

"A couple of days ago."

Almost immediately, Hitsugaya drew his sword and pointed it directly at Naruto, while his Bankai had already disappeared, his sword was like any other and could cut through a human easier than cutting through rocks. Slightly threatened and bewildered at the same time, Hitsugaya continued prodding, never once allowing the doubt to leave his heart.

"How much do you know?"

"Ah, Ichigo already explained everything to me! T-The sword looks pretty dangerous you know..."

The oblivious idiot was still trying to move away from his sword, but every time Naruto took a step towards the left or right, almost instinctively the sword would follow; just thinking about it, one would feel nervous if a sword was consistently pointing at their throats. He gulped when the white haired Captain showed no hint of dropping his sword.

Even though Yamamoto had already challenged him on that, Ichigo seemed to love being blacklisted or otherwise viewed as the enemy until the last possible moment. Hitsugaya had not heard of Yamamoto's final verdict; he sighed deeply.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Off. Away. You have your own life here, you shouldn't meddle in ours."

"Don't talk so arrogant you little kid!"

Hitsugaya stopped walking.

Naruto's eyes widened as he watched intriguingly as Hitsugaya gave a death glare. Naruto did not talk after that as he watched him walk off, and eventually sped off at amazing speed.

"So Shinigami's can do Ice attacks too..."

He walked off, kicking the dust that interestingly no longer had the icy remains or fragments.

"Sasuke..."

* * *

**A/N :** The difference with this chapter is that I've not only totally erased Rukia's presence, I've also turned back time so that Ichigo has just entered Hueco Mundo.


	3. Progress

**A/N :** Alright I just watched a few episodes of Naruto and Bleach (not the latest) so I'm back into mixing the story lines. It might be a little off but just to warn you, I skipped the Fire Temple Arc in Naruto and I skipped the 3rd Captain Arc in Bleach so there might be a big gap. Anyway...

Before I blabber on, I need to point out a very important point! (point out a very important point lol)

I REWROTE CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 AND HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REUPLOADED IT.

There will be/is very little difference except for the fact that I have gone back in time slightly. For those of you who are too lazy to read the new chapter 1 and 2 I shall attempt to summarise both of them.

Chapter 1 :  
While spending his time waiting for his sensei or a mission, Naruto notices a peculiar distortion. His curiosity leads him to face countless Menos Grande and even a full fledged arrancar. Narrowly dodging the arrancar's final death blow, Naruto manages to defeat his new type of enemy. Just when he is about to be ambushed from behind by one of the towering Menos, a Shinigami named Ichigo intervenes and proceeds to destroy the remaining Menos. After careful explanation from Ichigo of both worlds, both of them exchange names before departing.

Chapter 2 :  
Orihime is missing and General Yamamoto commands that no Shinigami is allowed to save her from Hueco Mundo. Ichigo however, hates the idea and goes to the only person who he believes has the key to Hueco Mundo – Urahara Kisuke. Unexpectedly, he is joined by friends Chad and Ishida as they embark together to save Orihime. Naruto on the other hand, had just finished another phase of his training : cutting the waterfall. His next phase however, is interrupted by Yamato. Soon after the departure of Yamato and Kakashi, 10th Squad Captain Hitsugaya Toshirou battles an arrancar right in front of Naruto.

Now that all that's done we're moving on to the story! (yes chapter 2 is around Anime Episode 142, which is about 50 (30 if you exclude fillers) behind but don't worry. Time moves fast.

* * *

It had been at least a day since Kakashi had dismissed Naruto from training because of Yamato. They had stopped with the revealation that Kakashi was able to perform the Rasengan with ease. Naruto walked across the training grounds before a scene of the fierce battle between Hitsugaya and Martini replayed through his head. He tilted his head towards the sky, then towards the ground which was covered in ice during the battle.

Naruto did not have to wait long however, as his usual teacher appeared on time – and when Kakashi appears 'on time' it means he has arrived late.

"Nature manipulation?"

Kakashi nodded his head as he begun to explain to Naruto what Nature manipulation was, how infusing his element in Rasengan would make it stronger and plenty of other information that may or may not help Naruto in his final phase of training.

"Even the Fourth Hokage could not do it."

"The Fourth Hokage..." Naruto knew how many have said the Fourth was the greatest ninja of all time, and if he could not do it...

"It may even be impossible."

Naruto felt himself shiver slightly. Was he nervous?

"This part can't be taught. It's something you have to figure out yourself."

Naruto felt his heart skip a beat.

"Do you know why I'm telling you all this?"

Naruto gulped.

"Because...I believe you're the only one who can surpass the Fourth Hokage."

Kakashi and Yamato left Naruto standing there.

"Surpass...the Fourth?"

Naruto looked at his right arm, the arm that usually harnessed the power of the Rasengan. Rasengan, from what he learned, was made purely by shape manipulation, and just from that it's power is equivalent to an A-rank technique. Not only that, Rasengan apparently was an incomplete technique. It was meant to take both shape manipulation and nature manipulation to it's highest level. Just repeating Kakashi's words in his head, Naruto felt the drive in him build up again, and with a confident grin plastered on his face, he raised both his arms up and proceeded to form a cross with his fingers. 'Surpass the Fourth?' Naruto grinned even more at the thought of it.

"Tajuu! Kage Bunshin No Juutsu!"

Yamato looked at Naruto brimming with confidence then back at Kakashi.

"That was smooth talking Kakashi-san."

"Smooth talking?"

"About the Fourth."

Kakashi paused, then swung his head round to face Naruto once more. His never-wavering confidence and smile was imprinted into Kakashi's face. With only one visible eye, he turned back to Yamato.

"That was the truth."

---

"You're..."

"It's been a long time...Shinigami."

"Ulquiorra!"

"I don't recall ever telling you my name."

The Espada casually walked down the staircase in front of Ichigo. His melancholy eyes staring straight into Ichigo's surprised one. Ichigo gripped tighter on his newly found friend, Nel. By the time the white cloak had stopped swaying in the wind, the said Espada had reached the bottom of the stairs, and this time, Ichigo's eyes had turned into those of determination. They were only metres apart, and Ichigo was prepared to draw his blade in this moment of hostility.

"At any rate, Kuchiki Rukia is dead."

Ichigo felt his body flare up, and his muscles began to tense. He was sure he felt Rukia's reaitsu decrease to a point he was unable to feel it, but he also knew he was not exactly the best of people to sense reaitsu. Ichigo also knew Rukia long enough to know she would not die that easily. Cursing inwardly, Ichigo speedily walked off.

The motionless – and emotionless – Espada questioned his destination.

"I'm going to save Rukia."

"Kuchiki Rukia, is dead."

There was a pause.

"I don't think she is."

Another pause.

"Are you sure you don't want to kill me before you go?"

"I don't have a reason to. You may be my enemy, but you have yet to hurt any of my friends."

Ichigo replied, his back still facing the said Espada, his heart still intent on leaving and saving Rukia. He felt his muscles relax slightly, his grip on his baby-sized friend, Nel had loosened to a comfortable state as well. Unknown to him, Ulquiorra had turned his body to face his interesting opponent.

"Would that still apply if I told you that I was the one who forced Inoue Orihime to come to Hueco Mundo?"

The atmosphere changed with that one sentence.

Almost instantaneously, Ichigo released his initial grip on Nel and allowed it to grab on to the hilt of his gigantic blade. With the rage filling him up and fueling his power, he swiftly doubled back and fiercely swung his blade at Ulquiorra's unchanged face. The fact that the Espada in front of him had easily raised a single arm out of his pocket to block the attack did not demoralize or deplete his anger at all.

"I knew Inoue would not go to Hueco Mundo on her own free will!"

"That's unexpected; you had doubts about her intentions, but you came to save her anyway."

"Don't you understand!? You're the reason why everyone is calling Inoue a traitor!"

Ichigo's spiritual power amplified even more as Ulqiorra's voice remained calm and collected.

"That makes sense. If that did not happen, it would mean I had miscalculated something."

That was the trigger for the gun.

Without even lightly mouthing the name of attack, Ichigo released a blue whip of destruction from his blade, throwing both he and Ulquiorra backwards – or so he thought. As the smoke cleared, Ichigo watched in minimal irritation as Ulquiorra indifferently faced him; the Espada's arms had returned to his pockets, and his eyes had not changed from the moment Ichigo met him.

"Nel, get away from here."

Nel, terrified by the sudden increase in both auras, obediently listened and hurriedly ducked behind the closest pillar.

"I'm giving everything I've got."

Ulquiorra watched uninterestedly at his intimidation and rise of spiritual energy.

"Bankai!"

Lazily, Ulqiorra watched as a dark force enveloped Ichigo and his power increased tenfold.

"Bankai?"

Jumping out from the garnered smoke, Ichigo revealed his face. It was only then did Ichigo finally see a change in Ulquiorra's face. Dismissing the name of the attack once more, Ichigo – with the power of his Bankai and his donned hollow mask – pulled up his blade over his head before striking down. A huge black whip of pure energy rocketed towards Ulquiorra in less than a second.

Although the Espada seemed to have already predicted such an attack, instead of attempting to dodge, the now surprised Espada pulled out his right arm to stop the dark force. His overconfidence seemed to spark more surprises as he felt his arm bend under the sheer power of the attack. Almost worriedly, he drew out his other arm to help parry the attack; even so he felt himself being thrown back as his feet moved around to find footing.

Ichigo on the other hand, was planning to kill him with this last shot, and immediately after he used all his power to release his Getsuga Tenshou, he charged right behind it and struck in between the black mass of energy. Ichigo could not see through the black mass, but he felt Ulquiorra's eyes widened as he pushed harder and harder.

"Impossible!"

Was the last the that managed to escape Ulquiorra's lips as Ichigo drained his remaining energy from the hollow mask to release a second Getsuga Tenshou, except this time, it was point blank and was right behind the initial super charged Getsuga Tenshou. A huge blast ensued as the sudden increase of power pushed the overconfident-indifferent Espada back. Ichigo panted heavily as his eyes focused at the end of the debris. His eyes were no longer yellow and sinister, his mask only managed to last 7 seconds this time.

"Was that all you got?"

---

"Asuma, what is Chiriku to you?"

Asuma turned towards Shikamaru.

"Because you're a chain smoker and you've stopped smoking ever since Chiriku died, and the only time you ever stop is when you're particularly bothered about something."

Asuma allowed himself to smile ever so slightly at his favourite student. Shikamaru was not known in the village for incredible skill in ninjutsu, taijutsu or genjutsu; rather he was well known for his ability as an analyst and a strategist. Even Asuma, whose favourite game is Shogi personally admitted that he is unable to defeat Shikamaru at least once. Imagine, a person half your age defeats you at every single game; your favourite game at that.

"I haven't seen you like that since the Third died."

The 2 other ninjas following Asuma and Shikamaru exchanged looks. They could still remember the exact day and date of when he died, they even remembered that it rained on his funeral. They also knew, that Asuma did not smoke for the entire week of his funeral. The moment he died, rumours said Asuma immediately spat out the cigarrette from his mouth.

It was only then did Asuma turn away from the boy genius. He looked forward and jumped off one of the tree's strong branches before finally replying to Shikamaru.

"You could say, that the relationship me and Chiriku shared was somewhat similar to the relationship you and Chouji share."

Shikamaru was a little surprised by how Asuma used a real life example to accurately express his relationship. It meant a lot however. Shikamaru understood the deep meaning behind his sentence and knew that Asuma knew that he and Chouji were best of friends. Shikamaru could still remember how his heart felt when he left Chouji behind to face off one of the Sound Four in the mission to rescue Sasuke. He knew Asuma was troubled because of that, if Chouji died...

"But that's not the reason why I stopped smoking."

Another unexpected surprise for the young prodigy. From the corner of his eye, he observed carefully as a genuine and caring smile formed on Asuma's face. A smile of satisfaction formed inside his heart; there were still things he did not know about Asuma.

---

Everything around the severely injured girl looked just like a war zone; of the aftermath of a war. There were remains of the Espada's release, and there was a sickening smell of decay from the 2 skulls that had rolled out of the transparent prison. The ice particles were slowly disappearing as well as the raven-haired girl stared at the mess of it all. The scene was almost like it were after genocide.

Kuchiki Rukia. That was the raven haired girl's name. She struggled with all her might to move forward from the place she fell, but it was useless. Her legs buckled once more as she fell face first. There was no need to cough as the blood willingly escaped her lips. She stared at the dead body of the 9th Espada, Aaroniero Arruruerie as she tried to muster up her strength to steady herself once more. But she failed.

"Ichigo...Renji...everyone..."

She managed to crawl forward just a bit before the blood from the sickening impale began to spill once more. In the sudden spasm of pain, her arm immediately gripped onto her massive injury as she fell back to the cold hard ground once more. Her eyes had not lost resolve, as she glared into the distance in front.

"I'm coming..."

---

"Looks like Akatsuki hasn't been here."

The team of ninjas scouted around the area to find no traces of the secret yet powerful organization. No one knew what they were up to as of now, but they knew that currently there was a pair of Akatsuki members that were around the provinces of Konohagakure. With an assuring smile to Ino and Chouji, the other ninjas confidently told them, "Our best situation would be to have Akatsuki go head on with Asuma's team."

* * *

**A/N :** Alright I must confess, this time there was very little mix between the anime; in fact I could even say that if it wasn't for my motive for writing this and the story line, you might have thought I was simply rewriting both stories in my own style. Well by the...5th Chapter, there will be a mix, a very very very huge mix. Thats when the real fiction starts coming out. (I do know I'm at the 3rd Chapter, but I have a feeling the 4th Chapter won't have much influence as of yet)

Sorry for the late upload anyway, I've been doing a lot of...stuff...


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